


let those glory days begin

by gealbhan



Category: Fire Emblem: Rekka no Ken | Fire Emblem: Blazing Sword
Genre: Developing Relationship, F/F, Florilyn Weekend, Grief/Mourning, Minor Character Death, Post-Canon, bg eliwood/hector
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-14
Updated: 2020-03-14
Packaged: 2021-02-27 19:29:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,878
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22981021
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gealbhan/pseuds/gealbhan
Summary: By the time Lyn goes to Florina to let her know, Florina is already packed. “I—I’m sorry if you changed your mind about me coming along,” she says, lowering her head, “but I just, um—”“Of course I haven’t!” Lyn reaches out to squeeze Florina’s arm. “If you haven’t changed your mind, then I would still be delighted to have you by my side. I’m not sure I can do this without you, to be honest.”Florina laughs, surprised and gentle rather than cruel, though she covers her mouth with a hand anyway. Her bright, shyly flattered smile peeks out from behind her fingers. “Well, I don’t plan on unpacking everything soon,” she says with a glance at her luggage, “so let’s go. Sticking together now and always, right?”Lyn and Florina build a home.
Relationships: Florina/Lyndis (Fire Emblem)
Comments: 3
Kudos: 49
Collections: Lyn/Florina Weekend





	let those glory days begin

**Author's Note:**

> written for florilyn weekend! each section is titled/themed after one of the prompts, though the story is meant to be taken as a consecutive narrative.
> 
> title from "sophie" by the altogethers. enjoy!

**i.** protect

The week after her grandfather’s funeral, Lyn hands the rule of Caelin over to Marquess Ostia. Hector is understanding, of course—he pledges to Lyn, with a firm hand on her shoulder, that he would defend her grandfather’s land with his life if it came to that. Though she wants to tell him he doesn’t need to go quite _that_ far, Lyn thanks him with tears in her eyes.

He politely looks the other way. “You’re going back to the plains now, I assume?”

Lyn laughs, though it hurts her sob-raw throat. “Was it that obvious?”

Hector’s crooked smile offers her all the answer she needs. Lyn hugs him goodbye, and then hugs Eliwood goodbye when he comes to see if their conversation is going all right, and then punches them both in the shoulders as she tells them she’ll miss them.

“Hey, it’s not like any of us are dying,” scolds Hector, bumping his knuckles against her shoulder in return. The joke is a little too soon, but Lyn doesn’t bother wincing. “Florina’s got a pegasus, doesn’t she? Damn wild creature it is.”

Lyn glares, and Eliwood says, “Huey is a perfectly fine animal. You’re just upset that he bit you once.”

“He doesn’t like men,” adds Lyn with a meaningful look. She wipes the tears from her cheeks, even though Eliwood and Hector both look rather teary themselves, and sighs. “You have a point. We’ll all be busy, but that doesn’t mean we can never see each other again.”

She wraps them both in one last hug, then goes to say goodbye to everyone else she can track down. She expects news of her departure will spread before long. Despite the rocky start her status as Hausen’s granddaughter had gotten off to, she’d become—she flushes to think of it—popular, even beloved, among the people of Caelin and perhaps the rest of Lycia. She hates to leave such a kind populace behind, but she would be lying to herself if she stayed here and became Caelin’s marquess, and the people of Sacae never lie.

By the time Lyn goes to Florina to let her know, Florina is already packed. “I—I’m sorry if you changed your mind about me coming along,” she says, lowering her head, “but I just, um—”

“Of course I haven’t!” Lyn reaches out to squeeze Florina’s arm. “If you haven’t changed _your_ mind, then I would still be delighted to have you by my side. I’m not sure I can do this without you, to be honest.”

Florina laughs, surprised and gentle rather than cruel, though she covers her mouth with a hand anyway. Her bright, shyly flattered smile peeks out from behind her fingers. “Well, I don’t plan on unpacking everything soon,” she says with a glance at her luggage, “so let’s go. Sticking together now and always, right?”

( _“I would like you with me, Florina,”_ Lyn had said. It had hung between them for a beat, and she’d hurried to append, _“As a friend”_ —not a lie, as Florina had been and always will be her friend, but the forced ring it held had made her wince anyway.

But Florina had looked at her, eyes wide, and agreed all the same. Lyn’s heart had felt fuller than she could ever recall it being.)

And they set off, sticking together in more ways than one—their hands are tied together at their sides, Lyn’s free hand on her sheathed sword and Florina’s on Huey’s reins. It makes traveling all the more cumbersome, but it makes it more bearable too. Not only having Florina at her side but having a constant reminder of her presence eases some tension from Lyn’s shoulders.

Not all of it, however. She’s still somewhat numb from the loss of her grandfather and subsequent abandonment of the place she’d been calling home for the past several years. There, too, is tension between her and Florina, having hovered there since the earliest days of their turmoil.

No doubt Lyn will bring it up before long, because she can’t stand not being able to read Florina for once, but she doesn’t think now is the right time. So she’ll cling tight to Florina’s hand while she’s still able to.

They travel on for days on end. Elibe is safer now than it had been when Lyn first made the opposite trip, but they’re still impeded by bandits and thieves and even friendly yet pushy merchants every now and then. Archers are thankfully rare enough that Florina doesn’t stress herself out too much, but still, Lyn is always on guard. Losing Florina would be—

Well. She doesn’t let herself think about it too often.

After one harrowing day, they make camp for the night. They’ve made headway on their journey—while Lyn hasn’t memorized the route by heart, not having returned for over a year, she has a feeling they’ll be back in Lorca territory within a few days.

At nights, Florina always does something funny. They’ll eat together, sitting across a makeshift fire of varying quality every night, and talk until they both feel sleepy enough to set out their bedrolls. The stories they tell are, for the most part, about their past, which of course means their families. And Lyn guesses that whenever she brings up the Lorca or her grandfather, she must wince or something without knowing it, because Florina will stand up and come to sit beside her and lean into her. It never makes Lyn stop, but sitting there with the combined warmth of Florina and the flames makes her feel less alone.

It’s silly to feel alone in the first place, she realizes late one night when she can’t bring herself to fall asleep. Even without her blood family and the other members of her tribe, people have supported her all this time. Whenever her losses drag her under, those people will always help her back up. They’ll protect her in whatever way they can.

Lyn will protect Florina with her sword and her determination, shielding her from any who would do her harm. She is not without her emotional side, and that serves as a shield of its own, allowing her to defend Florina from those who would hurt her in a less superficial sense.

Yet Florina serves her role as a knight just as well. Her protection is subtler, and all the more meaningful for it. She wins her fair share of battles too, of course, but her compassion shines through with every careful comfort she allows Lyn. Perhaps still thinking their casual relationship improper, whether consciously or not, she says nothing too direct, but her unspoken reassurances mean more to Lyn than she could say.

She attempts to anyway. “Thank you, Florina,” she says when they set off the next day.

Florina pauses as she packs up her bedroll. “What for?”

“Just—for being here with me.” Before the day she left, Lyn hadn’t cried since the day after her grandfather’s funeral, somehow unable to both during the funeral and when she’d first received word that he had passed during the night. Like when she’d first said her goodbyes, though, her eyes sting now, and she lowers her head with a weak laugh. “My heart feels lighter when you’re around. So thank you.”

“I’m glad I can help, Lyn,” says Florina, breathy and thrilled, and she’s smiling when next she takes Lyn’s hand.

**i** **i.** flight

Since their journey began, Florina hasn’t gotten on Huey’s back once. She’s sure he’s the slightest bit offended, and once they arrive in Sacae, she’s sure to spend all of the time she can flying around (she _is_ still a pegasus knight, despite how grounded she’s been), but for now, she’d like to stay as close to Lyn as she can.

How brazen this desire is makes her blush, but Florina tries to convince herself that it isn’t wholly selfish. Lyn should have someone close to her now, having lost her only remaining biological family, and she’d outright asked for it to be Florina.

And if Florina’s interpretation of them sticking together is on the literal side, so be it. Though she hasn’t flown in days, Florina feels as though she could every time she holds Lyn’s hand. It’s an embarrassingly strong reaction to have over something so minor, a step in their courtship that in all honesty should have been made years ago under the guise of simple friendship.

But she’s always felt braver around Lyn. Enough so to consider their relationship a courtship, it seems, when neither of them has outright voiced that thought. Since the very moment they met as children, Lyn helping Florina down from that tree and helping her find Huey again, smiling despite the clear shame Florina had brought to herself and all pegasus knights, Lyn’s bravery and care have been contagious.

Florina can only hope that she can make Lyn braver too. Lyn hasn’t lost her spirit—far from it, judging the fervor she wears in battle and travel alike like a badge of honor—but there’s something about her that’s less confident now.

As she settles back into her expedited rhythm, walking faster to distract herself from her thoughts, Florina almost trips. Lyn helps her up, as usual. She doesn’t even comment on Florina’s clumsiness, or how she takes the opportunity to hold tight to Lyn’s broad shoulders as she straightens up, or how she leans on Huey for support for the rest of the afternoon.

They’re able to stop in a town that night, far enough from Caelin that Lyn assures Florina she’s certain they won’t be recognized.

“I think it would be to our benefit if we were, anyway,” she adds, rubbing the back of her neck. “We haven’t run into any of Lundgren’s sympathizers in years, have we? And while I would never use my heritage in that way—” her face twists “—it might make people more benevolent if they know who I am.” Her voice lilts upward at the end, turning what might have otherwise been a firm statement into a half-question.

Florina has never been able to reassure people with her words like Lyn or Eliwood, so she settles for squeezing Lyn’s hand where it’s still entangled with hers. Lyn smiles automatically.

“I’m all right with staying in town,” says Florina. “I think it’ll go fine.”

“Yeah, it’s not like bandits are going to charge right into our room. And if they do, we’ve got methods of dealing with them, right?” Lyn pats her sword.

Florina nods, nothing short of inspired.

With some rooting around town, she’s able to find a stable to put Huey up at for the night. He gives her a mournful look that vanishes when the attendant offers him some sugar cubes. When Florina leaves, Lyn has already tracked down directions to an inn.

They stay the night in a double room with two beds pressed together like they’re ten-year-olds combining their bedrolls at an outdoor sleepover. Lyn says nothing out of the ordinary before they sleep, but she does flash Florina a bright smile. Florina’s heart flutters as they lie down beside one another.

When she wakes to blinding light streaming through the moth-bitten curtains, Lyn is facing Florina with her strong arms wrapped around her waist, reminding Florina of various daydreams she’s had of them both riding through the skies atop Huey. For all that he trusts Lyn, Huey is cantankerous and only big enough to comfortably carry one. But with Lyn’s head tucked under her chin, Florina can’t help but entertain the thought again.

Florina’s head rests against Lyn’s. She’s lulled back into sleep soon enough, dreaming of horses and Lyn seated behind her with her head on her shoulder. When they both wake for good, Lyn apologizes for drooling, but Florina waves her off with a laugh.

They pick up Huey and set off again. On their way out of town, Florina manages to buy a new set of reins for Huey from a passing merchant—or rather, Lyn buys it despite Florina’s protests that she can cover it.

The merchant gives Lyn a respectful nod. “Treating your girlfriend, eh? Can’t say I understand why you would want to buy her pegasus reins as a present, but to each their own.”

Heart flapping its feeble wings once more, Florina lowers her head to hide her blush. Lyn grins sheepishly and joins their hands once more. Neither of them seems able to bring herself to deny the _girlfriend_ comment.

They don’t make it to another town that night, pace slowed by a small group of bandits that they manage to fight off, back-to-back as Huey takes flight to escape the danger zone. Lyn swipes the leader’s lance with a grimace and hands it over to Florina.

“Oh,” says Florina, eyes widening. “I shouldn’t—I mean, you already got me those reins, and—”

“I’m not buying this,” Lyn points out. “Anyway, yours has been wearing down, right? This one might be a little heavier, but it seems pretty well-made—steel, near as I can tell, but in your hands, it should work as well as any silver weapon.”

It’s been some time since Florina first flew, but she can remember the basic feelings she’d experienced then: The dips in her stomach at lifting up off the ground and then looking down on some morbid instinct, the reeling sensation throughout her entire body, the pitter-patter of her heart, the way her thoughts rushed as fast as the wind in her ears. Over time, those reactions had dissipated, her anxiety had been quelled by experience. Now, she’s almost more comfortable in the air than she is on the ground.

Being around Lyn had felt like that at first too, but it hasn’t for some time now. Florina still sometimes feels like she’s in freefall, but far from the nerves she once carried, being with Lyn feels more and more normal and calm every moment. Like coming home.

Florina takes the lance and sheathes it. As Lyn had warned, it’s heavier than the slim lance she’s kept on her all this time, but all it’ll take is a little practice to get used to it again. She can’t help smiling as she runs her hand along its metallic hilt. True, Lyn hadn’t bought it, but she’d still thought of Florina before keeping it to pawn or even leaving it in the unconscious bandit’s hands.

She pledges to give Lyn the first sword she can find.

The sun is already fading, so they find a clearing out of the way to make camp for the night. Florina sits close to Lyn as usual while Lyn tells her a story about her grandfather, voice shaky but clear, keeping a vice grip on Florina’s proffered hand.

When they sleep, Lyn sets her bedroll up close enough to Florina’s that they might as well be sharing. Florina is about to close her eyes when a murmur comes from her side.

“I love you, Florina,” she hears Lyn say, and Florina almost chokes on her inhale. “I just realized… I’ve never said it back, not in so many words. And I think it’s important to tell each other things like that while there’s still time.”

Florina swallows the lump in her throat and reaches for Lyn’s hand. With how often she’s been holding it lately, their palms may as well be glued together. “I agree,” she says, soft. And though she’d said it before without an ounce of hesitation, something she’d kicked herself for countless times, now her voice shakes as she says, “I—I love you too, Lyn.”

Lyn curls toward her with an exhale but says nothing more. She’s snoring gently within minutes, smiling all the while. Though Florina spends some time longer staring up at the night sky, imagining what it would look like if she were to glide higher on Huey, she finds sleep too before long, swathed in the gentle embrace of the most important person in her life.

Flying makes Florina feel more secure than she ever would have known, but sometimes, it’s all right to be grounded too.

**iii.** the plains

The instant Lyn steps onto the ground she still calls home, she knows. There are no signs reading _Welcome to the Home of the Lorca Tribe_ or anything, but even aside from recognizing the familiar (if overgrown) scenery, a feeling deep in Lyn’s heart tells her one thing: _I’m home._ It’s a similar feeling to the one she’s had throughout their t ravels , but sinking further into her bones, easing the joints once aching from walking. An emotion that can’t be expressed as anything but _home_ sweeps over her.

A grin breaks across Lyn’s face. The breeze stirs her hair into her eyes, but she pays no attention to the obstruction of her vision as she drops Florina’s hand and charges forth. Even with how long she’s been gone, she would know how to navigate the plains in sleep, in death.

Nothing greets her but the oft-trodden dirt paths, the sprawl of dry grass, the abundance of trees, and the bright blue sky above, but Lyn still hollers, “I’m back!” as though her family might burst out and respond. The wind carries her shout and echoes it back, so as far as Lyn is concerned, they do. She laughs, delight overcoming the heaviness formerly lurking behind her smile.

For a moment, Lyn stands there and basks in the sun and cool air. Then, arms spread and eyes closed, she blissfully allows herself to fall back onto the grass with a _whump_.

How long has it been since Lyn has done something like this? Childhood, for sure, but she’s never felt so free as she does now, limbs spread out across the grass and dirt. Her back will be stained green and brown when she stands, but that’s incidental to the peace and contentment that fills her. For now, she’s able to forget everything leading up to this point and just _be_.

She sighs. Were she so inclined, she could fall asleep like this; it’s only mid-afternoon, but exhaustion has worn down on Lyn throughout their journey, and while there might be better places to take a nap than on the ground, her eyes are threatened to stay shut as long as possible.

Lyn stretches out further with a mumbled groan. Her breathing evens out—if not sleep, she can at least get a few minutes of relaxation. Her eyelashes lift so she can squint up at the sky, watching clouds roll through the azure sky.

A shadow falls over her. Lyn blinks back up to see Florina kneeling behind her with a placid smile on her face, upside down from where Lyn is lying.

“Hi,” says Lyn, sheepish. “Sorry for leaving you to your own devices.”

Florina laughs and reaches down to smooth Lyn’s bangs out of her face. “It’s all right—I may be of Ilia, but I’m familiar enough with the plains to not get lost. And you never go too far.”

“That’s true enough.” Lyn’s eyes flutter shut again. Memories float by like the clouds above. “Want to go get stuck up a tree so I can help you down? You know, for old time’s sake?”

“Very funny,” says Florina, weakly flicking Lyn in the exposed forehead. “I think it’s my turn to catch you when you fall by now.”

“You always seem to already,” says Lyn, unsure if it’s in agreement or argument. Her fingers tangle through Florina’s, intertwined hands resting beside her head. It almost feels odd to _not_ be holding Florina’s hand now.

They lie there for a moment, calmness overwhelming Lyn even further. Then Florina leans down to kiss her, just the quickest and smallest of pecks to her lips, and then leaps back to her feet, made spry by embarrassment, before Lyn can so much as blink. Flustered giggles ring through the air.

“Hey, get back here!” says Lyn, surging up. She almost trips over herself as she does, tranquility and surprise slowing her down, but she manages to stand and flash Florina a devious look. “I’ll always catch you too, you know.”

And, before Florina can do more than tilt her head in confusion, she does so, tackling Florina without waiting for a reaction. They tumble to the ground, laughing, Lyn’s arms around Florina’s waist and Florina’s hands on Lyn’s shoulders. They roll across the grass, batting playfully at each other. Lyn can hear Huey snort in the distance, wondering at the stupidity and childishness of his humans, but her focus turns back to Florina before long. She manages to twist so they’re lying on their backs side-by-side. Their chests heave with breathless laughter.

The sky sprawls out far above. No matter where one is, the sky is almost always the same, at least during the day. Lyn smiles at the thought that she’ll always be looking up at the same sky that those she’s lost once had.

Lyn reaches between them to clasp Florina’s hand again. She brings it to her lips to give it a brief kiss, half-impulse and half-payback for Florina’s previous kiss. Florina giggles, and Lyn sets their hands back down. Florina’s palm is warm against Lyn’s, and the grass is firm beneath them, reminding Lyn that there will always still be life besides her own in the plains.

Grinning through their pants, she and Florina look at each other. Florina squeezes Lyn’s hand, and Lyn knows she needn’t say a word.

They both know how glad she is to be home, especially with Florina by her side.

**iv.** change

Lyn soon settles into life on the plains, seeming to pick back up right where she’d left off. There’s no one around for miles save Florina, but Lyn must be used to that sort of isolated life. In little to no time, she’s back to the same old Lyn, if aged by a few years and with more maturity and sadness alike behind her eyes to show for it.

For Florina, who’d spent plenty of time traveling alongside Lyn but considerably less quality time in Sacae, it takes a bit more adjustment. She can’t cling as close to Lyn as she had on their travels, so she spends more time exploring on her own (and with Huey, taking to the skies again, much to his satisfaction), though she never strays too far from where they’ve set up base. Just because there doesn’t seem to be anyone around doesn’t mean Florina should risk it.

She’s sure she’ll get used to it soon—and suspects she already is, just not consciously yet—but still, the move is jarring. Florina is never quite sure what to expect from her surroundings. From Lyn, either, as one night proves.

“Hey, Florina,” she calls across their ger, cleaning up after a hearty dinner, “do you want to sit outside with me for a while?”

Florina blinks. “Are you sure? We set the ger up and everything,” she says, twisting her fingers together at her waist. Sure, it’s lacking in furniture given what little they could salvage from the Lorca gers still standing, and they don’t even have a proper bed yet, but she’d been looking forward to having a roof over her head while sleeping again.

“Yeah, we can head back in to sleep later, if you want,” says Lyn. “It’s just—my parents used to kind of sit outside and talk when I was younger, and I wanted to see what the fuss was, I guess.”

The comparison of them to a married couple—Lyn’s parents, at that—makes Florina blush and agree readily enough. She heads outside to sit with Lyn in the grass a few feet away from their ger.

They wait there for a few moments. There doesn’t appear to be anything special about sitting outside as compared to sitting inside, aside from the breeze on Florina’s skin and the beautiful sunset visible in all directions. Lyn is still here with her, and despite the threat of any number of unfavorable things (Florina’s nose wrinkles at the thought of bees disturbing her peace), that’s enough to put Florina at ease. Perhaps that’s just because they’ve had to sit outside so many times the past couple of weeks, though.

Lyn clears her throat. “In retrospect, my parents were probably just sitting out here so I wouldn’t listen in. And maybe so they could hunt.” She draws her knees up to her chest as she considers that. “They competed a lot—every now and then one would win, but most of the time it just ended in a tie.”

“I don’t remember your parents very well, to be honest,” confesses Florina. She’d been young enough that her attention was all on Lyn, and while she remembers Madelyn being nice enough, she’d been too shy to approach Hassar very often, being not only a man but a powerful authority figure, so she has an even less clear recollection of him. “From what you’ve told me, though… if we’d gotten to know each other now, I think I would have really liked them. They—they seemed like very caring people.”

Though there’s a flash of grief in Lyn’s eyes, it’s soon overtaken by her prideful grin. “Oh, my parents loved you! They always used to tell me how nice and sweet my friend was after you left.”

“Oh—that was very kind of them,” says Florina, remnant flush deepening. Her gaze lowers, and she toys with the edge of her dress as she adds, “I wish you could have gotten more time with them.”

For a beat, Lyn looks taken aback—and then she lowers her head, sorrow filling her expression. Florina’s stomach drops. How could she be so cruel to bring that up at a time like this?

“I’m—” she starts.

“You don’t need to apologize,” says Lyn quickly. “You said nothing wrong. I—I was just thinking the same thing, actually. It’s unfair, isn’t it? My parents, my tribe, and now—”

She doesn’t finish the sentence, but they both know what she leaves unspoken. Florina leans against her with a heavy exhale. Lyn wraps an arm around her in turn, hand shaking as it comes to rest against Florina’s shoulder.

After a mournful stretch of silence, eyes fixed on the fading sunset without really acknowledging it, Florina coughs and decides to change the subject. Lyn had wanted to talk out here, not reminisce upon what-ifs.

“Have the plains changed any since you were here last?”

Lyn blinks. “Not drastically, I don’t think,” she says with slow consideration. “I don’t think there’s really been anyone around to change things, so nature has just run its course. Time has taken its toll.”

Florina nods. “It hasn’t changed any more than us, then?”

“It’s changed even less than we have, I would say,” says Lyn with a reflexive little laugh, and Florina knows _we_ refers to more than just the two of them. She drums her fingers against Florina’s shoulder. “We’ve all changed plenty, haven’t we? But in the end, I guess we’re still us.”

Florina thinks about the lance strapped to her side, the lines of age around Huey’s eyes and snout, the blood she’d bled and made others bleed that will never leave her skin, the scars that mar her limbs. She thinks about the hard set of Lyn’s jaw, the power in her shoulders and the musculature of her arms, the regal way she carries herself, the dark circles that have underlined her eyes since Lord Hausen’s funeral but have been fading since they arrived in the heart of Sacae.

She thinks about them as a collective unit: Strong and kind Lyn and silly unremarkable Florina, going from a pair of ordinary childhood friends to a noblewoman and her humble pegasus knight seemingly overnight. Their joined hands had marked a return toward the former dynamic, bridging a gap once insurmountable in Florina’s eyes. Florina won’t deny that she still has the urge to call Lyn _Lady Lyndis,_ but she can do nothing but acquiesce to Lyn’s wishes.

She thinks about how, after it all, Lyn’s smile is still the same. Crooked to the left, baring a hint of teeth, creating dimples amongst the smattering of freckles on her dark skin. Genuine and bright despite its lopsided nature. Lyn has grown over the years in more than one sense of the word, but that pure smile remains.

“We’re still us,” agrees Florina, and she believes it.

**v.** family

Night hasn’t yet set in by the time Lyn returns to her and Florina’s ger, and there’s still an energetic spring in her step as she drags along two cloaked figures, their baggy capes the only effort they’d made to disguise themselves, she’d come upon while hunting. (Florina was already preparing their meal for the night, so there was no need for extra food now, but it didn’t hurt to be prepared. Of course, Lyn had gotten sidetracked and now hauled back no food.)

“Hey, Florina!” At the sound of her name, Florina looks up, blithe at first—then her eyes widen. “Look who I caught trying to drop in! They were so distracted bickering about which way to go that they didn’t notice me sneaking up on them.”

To the side, Eliwood sighs, traces of red as bright as his hair in his cheeks. “Our visit was supposed to be a surprise.”

In between him and Lyn, Hector bursts out laughing. “Yes, I’m sure the Marquesses Pherae and Ostia charging through the countryside on a so-called secret mission without any of their knights in tow was a surprise to someone.”

“It was _your_ idea, if you’ll recall,” says Eliwood, in response to which Hector takes a sudden interest in the interior design. Eliwood clears his throat and plasters on a smile as he looks to Florina, who bows her head in greeting.

For once, Hector takes the hint. “Hi, Florina.”

“Hello, Lord Hector,” says Florina, still somewhat meek despite the time she’s spent with him. Recalling how Hector had to duck to not bump his head while entering, Lyn can’t quite blame her. At least Huey’s out back and won’t bite him again. “How have you been?”

“Busy since your girlfriend foisted all of her duties off on me.” The dull _thwap_ s of Lyn and Eliwood elbowing him in either side resound, and Hector winces, far more chagrined than physically injured. “That was a joke.” He scratches at the back of his neck. “Hell, I don’t have _enough_ to do, if anything. Couldn’t you have left me even more territory to look after, Lyn?”

The restlessness in his eyes is far more than simple boredom; Lyn has felt it, too, since her grandfather’s death. She spares him a tight smile that she hopes conveys _I understand_ in a way words won’t.

It gets a return smile out of him, fleeting but strong, and Eliwood changes the subject by asking Florina about Huey, which of course prompts excitement from her and complaints from Hector.

They have a few empty gers set up, mostly for storage purposes right now, so Lyn doesn’t have to attempt to cram the four of them in her and Florina’s or blow an hour constructing another. That being said, there’s more than enough room in theirs for them all to have dinner together. Lyn ushers Eliwood and Hector to the upper left end of the table while she and Florina take the right side.

“It might not be much—we planned for it to just be us,” Lyn warns.

Hector raises his eyebrows, almost as furry as the beard he’s beginning to grow out. “Oh, are we interrupting date night?”

Florina rubs her temple, and Lyn gives him a firm frown even as she says, “In that every night is technically date night if it’s just the two of us out here, sure.”

“So you were just going to sit in and eat together, same as every night? Seems a little boring,” says Hector with a hum.

“Oh, yes, because disregarding your noble duties and taking an impromptu trip with your boyfriend to join us in the same exact thing is so much more exciting.”

Hector chokes abruptly on nothing while Eliwood snickers. Florina hurries to pass out their dinner before they can launch into too heavy of an argument.

Once they’re all seated and served, the food eases the conversation along. They talk long into the evening, sharing stories of their experiences since they were last all together—and tales from before that, too; Florina mentioning how she and Lyn met prompts Eliwood and Hector to goad each other into telling childhood stories that don’t reflect well on either of them. On occasion, a topic none of them want to broach will come up. They always move past it quickly enough, giving each other encouraging glances as they settle back into a rhythm. Within an hour, the hiccups have resolved altogether.

Halfway through her meal, Lyn realizes how much she’s missed this. Sitting at a table with other people to share in her joy—with a family.

For the rest of her life, Lyn will carry her grief for her parents, her grandfather, and the other members of her tribe alike. Florina will carry her parents, and Eliwood his father, and Hector his brother. At this table, inside this ger, on a small section of the plains of Sacae, those feelings don’t go away—but the weights on all of their shoulders are eased by the mere companionship they all provide.

Sometime in the next few days, Fiora and Farina will fly in to spend a few days with their sister, as promised in one of Fiora’s letters. Over the next couple of weeks and into the next several months, without a doubt, more of their friends and former companions will write in and appear either with or without warning. Lyn is already preparing herself for Sain’s doubtless headache-inducing appearances and Serra’s insistence on accompanying Hector and perhaps Eliwood next time.

Someday, Lyn and Florina themselves will set off. The Sacaens have a long history as nomads, after all, and Florina has a restless heart all her own. Her family in Ilia would welcome them with open arms at any time. Lyn won’t allow herself to stray too far from the plains now that she’s found them once more, but traveling doesn’t seem all that bad. Home is where the heart is, so Lyn has homes in both Sacae and Caelin—but she, too, has a living, breathing, moving home in Florina. Where Florina goes, Lyn will go without question, and it works the other way around too.

So in the meantime, this is all the family Lyn needs.

Aware she’s been staring off into space for a couple of minutes now, Lyn gets up from the table with a clap. “Hey, do you guys want a tour? My father was always better at explaining things—when he wanted to, anyway—but I’ll try my best.”

And she charges grinningly into the night, Florina’s hand in hers and ghosts at her back.

**Author's Note:**

> thank you so much for reading! if you have time to spare, comments and kudos are always appreciated <3
> 
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